Stella didn’t really work out.

…And one that probably would have derailed Kentucky’s season. The 68-65 win over Florida puts the Cats in the thick of the SEC East race with a four-team logjam. It wasn’t always pretty, but when you shoot 79% at the free throw line for the season and hit only 56% for the game, with Patterson being held to 7 points and getting injured, and Perry Stevenson getting his arm stepped on, I’ll take it. I’ll take any win I can get at this point.

Nick “Game Face” Calathes had a great game until the last seconds, missing two free throws with Florida down 3, forcing him to miss the third. Commentator Jimmy Dykes said no less than ten times that “Calathes had his game face on from an hour before the game and it never changed the whole game.” ***Please click here if you don’t know what a game face is. It’s #2 on the list.*** He almost beat us…I can’t for the life of me figure out why we kept switching on the high ball screen, leaving Perry Stevenson or Josh Harrellson on Calathes, and he made the Cats pay. He just didn’t make them pay enough.

Oh, by the way, Chandler Parsons said that Tennessee and Florida State were tougher places to play than Rupp Arena. I wonder if he wants to reconsider.

All this talk about change and hope, peace and love. Celebrate the goodwill of mankind, can’t we all just get along?

Sounds like the hippies back in the 60s and 70s. How’d that whole thing work for you? No offense to those of you who fall in this category, but how well the did Baby Boomers do when they were in charge? Are we just repeating history with this flowery rhetoric?

As for me, I’m not going to hope that men will act in the best interest of their neighbors. I know we’re all broken. I know we’re all essentially bad deep down. You don’t have to teach a baby to lie, steal, cheat, or resort to violence. I know we’re going to look out for our own self-interests first. That’s human nature. That’s unchangeable. We’re never going to see peace on Earth, until Jesus comes back.

In the meantime, give me a system of economics that uses man’s self-interest for the good of everyone. Give me a leader who is not afraid to stare evil in the face for what it is and not hope that it will change but will do only what is best for our nation.

I get the hope. I get that we’re all hopeful that it’s a new day in America. But you can’t hope your way to freedom. You better be ready to fight for it.

If his presidency is to represent the full power of the idea that black Americans are just like everyone else — fully human and fully capable of intellect, courage and patriotism — then Barack Obama has to be subject to the same rough and tumble of political criticism experienced by his predecessors. To treat the first black president as if he is a fragile flower is certain to hobble him. It is also to waste a tremendous opportunity for improving race relations by doing away with stereotypes and seeing the potential in all Americans.

There is a lot more at stake now, and to allow criticism of Mr. Obama only behind closed doors does no honor to the dreams and prayers of generations past: that race be put aside, and all people be judged honestly, openly, and on the basis of their performance.

If you got to see the UK-Tennessee game last night, or saw highlights of it, in which Jodie Meeks scored 54 points and Tennessee lost by 18 points on their home court, the last thing you’d expect would be for the Volunteers to talk smack, right?

Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson said Tennessee’s players yapped all game, despite the napalming put on them. “I wouldn’t be talking at all,” Patterson said. “My mouth would be shut. Especially when a guy’s got 54 in your own gym. They can talk all they want. Jodie’s shots speak for themselves.”

UT’s just a bunch of spoiled punk wannabes. That’s all there is to it.

Kentucky is well on its way back to the top of college basketball, and last night’s 18-point win over Tennessee on their home court is the signature win of the Gillispie era. Billy’s teams are tough late in the season. Say all you want about VMI and Gardner-Webb, but Gillispie lays the foundation for his teams early in the season.

And Kentucky is still well below its typical talent level. If there’s any way that Jodie Meeks and/or Patrick Patterson return next year, Kentucky is a legitimate Final Four contender, as Gillispie continues to bring in elite talent. Five-star center Daniel Orton and four-star Jon Hood join a solid, steady point guard recruit in G.J. Vilarino, as help is on the way next year.

But enough about next year. If last night is any indication, this season could be pretty special.